Anonymous wrote:They have to justify that they are spending $30,000 a year. We recently switched from private to public because the private couldn’t meet the needs of my SN daughter. Both of my kids are thriving in public and we are fortunate that our public schools are best in class. We don’t live in DMV.

My kids are not SN. I think most people would agree that public is better for SN, unless it is an SN-specific private.

That said, I do not know why OP is asking this question. If she cannot afford private then what is the point? It would be like me asking if flying in private jets is really all that compared to flying commercial.

They have to justify that they are spending $30,000 a year. We recently switched from private to public because the private couldn’t meet the needs of my SN daughter. Both of my kids are thriving in public and we are fortunate that our public schools are best in class. We don’t live in DMV.

I have kids in both private and public.

Some advantages of private: option for religious or same sex environment, smaller classes, in some districts more diversity (surprisingly!), more free periods during the day when kids are encouraged to visit their teachers or have a study hall, option to leave early for specific extracurriculars (for example, my kid danced at a pre pro company and we were given the leeway to leave in a way a public would not), uniforms, curated student population and specifically, curated student parents, much better facilities both indoor and sports/fields, extracurriculars as part of the school day, amazing field trips including overnights. Sports at the lower/middle school ages were a part of the school day - not need to drive all around getting a kid to practice. I strongly believe privates on average offer better study/organizational skills training and better writing instruction. (I haven’t found this to be true for math.)

Public: better AP selections (this will depend on the school), bigger grade and class sizes (for one kid, this was a benefit - he didn’t thrive in a smaller environment), better music program (this again will depend on the district but absolutely the case for us), better accommodations for special needs (speech therapy, ADHD, hearing).

Anonymous wrote:No better outcome for college comes from private. FULL STOP

Perhaps not in the DC area but this is flatly untrue in some districts in this country.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is very district and school dependent. I've worked in both public and private schools. I used to say that I didn't see the value in private elementary... but now I absolutely do. A LOT of teachers' and administrators' time and energy is spent dealing with the 3-4 kids in class with behavioral, psychological, and academic issues. Kids are pushed to mainstream when they have significant needs. The top kids get ignored. The middle kids get by.

There are also plenty of problematic private schools.

That said, I have my elementary child in public. I don't want to spend $20k a year and have him be snooty. I have kept him in public and tell him to be kind, help other kids, listen to the teachers, and to do his best. We add more math and literacy at home, as we learned way back in kindergarten that he wasn't getting nearly enough of it.

Ok, this just made me laugh a bit at the hypocrisy. So let me get this straight PP ... you want your child to be kind but do not hesitate to deal in generalizations and unkind comments about people you do not even know? Your opinion, PP, is not one that carries much weight if you ask me.

At my niece and nephew's Catholic school, the boys can't have hair that touches the collar of their uniform and no one can dye their hair an unnatural color.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in the same boat OP - we can’t afford it if we want to properly save for college and retirement, and occasionally take a modest vacation, all of which we do.

But for me, the main reason I’d like to send my kids to private school is that they are allowed to have rules and enforce them, and if students and families don’t comply, the families are asked to not return the next year.

Just off the top of my head:

1. Dress code that is enforceable or uniform (even better)

2. Required hair cuts for boys

3. Rules against foul language in front of teachers, and just better manners enforced in general.

4. Poor behavior is actually punished and schools aren’t stuck with repeat offenders. Sending a kid to the office actually get results.

These are all things my friend tells me about her parochial catholic school.

I agree with above, except for " Required hair cuts for boys". Really? Why not throw in "girls required to keep their hair long and tidy", and "no corn rolls".

cornROWS (SMDH0

sorry.. was typing without thinking

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've done a small private and a large public, and much preferred the public. There are too many opportunities for bullying in private schools and kids are stuck with the same children for 8/4 or 12 years. My older children recommended we not send the younger ones to private.

Wut

What was so challenging for you to understand here?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in the same boat OP - we can’t afford it if we want to properly save for college and retirement, and occasionally take a modest vacation, all of which we do.

But for me, the main reason I’d like to send my kids to private school is that they are allowed to have rules and enforce them, and if students and families don’t comply, the families are asked to not return the next year.

Just off the top of my head:

1. Dress code that is enforceable or uniform (even better)

2. Required hair cuts for boys

3. Rules against foul language in front of teachers, and just better manners enforced in general.

4. Poor behavior is actually punished and schools aren’t stuck with repeat offenders. Sending a kid to the office actually get results.

These are all things my friend tells me about her parochial catholic school.

I agree with above, except for " Required hair cuts for boys". Really? Why not throw in "girls required to keep their hair long and tidy", and "no corn rolls".

cornROWS (SMDH0

Omg. Funny

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in the same boat OP - we can’t afford it if we want to properly save for college and retirement, and occasionally take a modest vacation, all of which we do.

But for me, the main reason I’d like to send my kids to private school is that they are allowed to have rules and enforce them, and if students and families don’t comply, the families are asked to not return the next year.

Just off the top of my head:

1. Dress code that is enforceable or uniform (even better)

2. Required hair cuts for boys

3. Rules against foul language in front of teachers, and just better manners enforced in general.

4. Poor behavior is actually punished and schools aren’t stuck with repeat offenders. Sending a kid to the office actually get results.

These are all things my friend tells me about her parochial catholic school.

I agree with above, except for " Required hair cuts for boys". Really? Why not throw in "girls required to keep their hair long and tidy", and "no corn rolls".

cornROWS (SMDH0

Anonymous wrote:No better outcome for college comes from private. FULL STOP

There’s so many important benefits that have nothing to do with college.

Anonymous wrote:We've done a small private and a large public, and much preferred the public. There are too many opportunities for bullying in private schools and kids are stuck with the same children for 8/4 or 12 years. My older children recommended we not send the younger ones to private.

Wut

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did private through 6th and that was perfect. My kids got to spend childhood in classes were rules were (generally) respected and enforced, kids and teachers were respectful, they were able to have the individual academic and emotional needs met.

We switched to public because in the upper grades there are actually way more opportunities for advanced instruction. While yes, there are major behavioral problems, my kids are old enough to ignore and carry on.

Generally, the harder classes in the upper grades in public don't have have the troublemakers. I went to a rough public HS, but took mostly honors (real honors, not the fake ones of today) and AP classes. Everyone in those classes was serious about academics.

Agree. I’m the PP and was mainly referring to the general classes and electives everyone has to take. The AP classes and actual honors classes are filled with kids there to learn.

This has not exactly been our experience. My DD's classes still have those "twice exceptional" kids who are still really disruptive and annoying and can't be disciplined.

We've done a small private and a large public, and much preferred the public. There are too many opportunities for bullying in private schools and kids are stuck with the same children for 8/4 or 12 years. My older children recommended we not send the younger ones to private.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did private through 6th and that was perfect. My kids got to spend childhood in classes were rules were (generally) respected and enforced, kids and teachers were respectful, they were able to have the individual academic and emotional needs met.

We switched to public because in the upper grades there are actually way more opportunities for advanced instruction. While yes, there are major behavioral problems, my kids are old enough to ignore and carry on.

Generally, the harder classes in the upper grades in public don't have have the troublemakers. I went to a rough public HS, but took mostly honors (real honors, not the fake ones of today) and AP classes. Everyone in those classes was serious about academics.

Agree. I’m the PP and was mainly referring to the general classes and electives everyone has to take. The AP classes and actual honors classes are filled with kids there to learn.